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Sunken concrete deck on vinyl pool - suggestions please!

Hi all,

I bought my home about 3 years ago. It has an in-ground 16x32 vinyl liner pool that is at least 40 years old. The concrete pool deck has settled all around my pool. The gap ranges from 2" to almost 4". Luckily, the cement has settled almost perfectly level (there are no gaps or tripping hazards) but it is unsightly and I would like to fix it. See attached photos.

I've had a few contractors come look at it and now have 3 different options.

Option 1 - Lift the original cement back to the coping using a polymer (from a company called Polylevel). Similar concept to mud-jacking but with no danger to pool walls. Cost is 15-16$/sq ft.
Option 2 - Put pavers/stones on top of the existing cement. Cost is 15-16$/sq ft.
Option 3 - Pour new cement on top of the existing cement. Cost is 10$/sq ft.

Option 3 (new cement) is the cheapest but I think option 2 (pavers) would give me the nicest looking result, the problem is that it raises the question of what to do with the coping. I think pavers next to a white aluminum coping don't look that nice. My neighbor did that on his pool (he had same sunken cement problem that I have on mine) and it contrasts with the pavers. So if I want to put pavers over the coping to give a uniform look, not only would that add additional cost, I was told it would also require a new track for the liner and most likely a new liner. Right now my liner is actually held up by the coping itself. So if I put a new track in, would I also have to change the liner? Or is it possible to install a track (e.g. a cantilever track) without removing my liner?

What are your thoughts TFPC readers? What option would you go for? Do you think the cement will keep sinking or has it finally settled after 40 years? Do you think there is any danger to my pool walls by adding new cement or pavers on top of it?

Any suggestions, experiences or recommendations would be very welcome!! THANKS!

Re: Sunken concrete deck on vinyl pool - suggestions please!

Not an exact quote, but it would certainly be a lot more expensive. All the contractors seemed to say the existing cement base was fine as is (the sinking was even) and removing it would increase cost and risk of damaging pool. Even if I did remove and repour a new deck I would still need to figure out what to do with the coping.

Re: Sunken concrete deck on vinyl pool - suggestions please!

If it were mine I would remove the existing deck and either install new concrete or pavers. Without knowing what's below and it being relatively new to you there is no way to say for sure it isn't still moving and won't settle more. If you add on top of the existing and it continues to settle then you have twice as much material to remove to correct the problem in the future.

I would be very concerned about your skimmer, looking at the picture I would guess the skimmer is supporting that section of the deck. At a minimum I would cut the concrete from around the skimmer to relieve the stress on it and to inspect it.

Re: Sunken concrete deck on vinyl pool - suggestions please!

I did pavers right over my 40 year old sunken concrete. Pulling out the old deck just didn't make sense to me. Why pull out a solid base of basically stone that has had 40 years to settle into its final resting place just to bring in different stone, pack it and pray it doesn't settle because you stirred everything up and added new material?

Go over it, save some serious money; can't get a better base for pavers than a 40 year old concrete slab.

The build thread is in my signature and you will see I went right over the concrete + over 3/4" gravel for additional deck area. It's been through one winter and the only areas that have settled are the edges over the crushed stone that I couldn't get the compactor close enough to so that's not a surprise.

On a side note, the skimmer looks like a repour and is not stressed by the deck sinking anymore. Most likely it was damaged when the deck did some heavy movement early on and someone sectioned it out and repoured. When you do pavers you'll need to pop the top part off and install an extension ring or two to have it flush with the new deck as I did with mine.

Re: Sunken concrete deck on vinyl pool - suggestions please!

Originally Posted by tcrote5516

I did pavers right over my 40 year old sunken concrete. Pulling out the old deck just didn't make sense to me. Why pull out a solid base of basically stone that has had 40 years to settle into its final resting place just to bring in different stone, pack it and pray it doesn't settle because you stirred everything up and added new material?

Go over it, save some serious money; can't get a better base for pavers than a 40 year old concrete slab.

The build thread is in my signature and you will see I went right over the concrete + over 3/4" gravel for additional deck area. It's been through one winter and the only areas that have settled are the edges over the crushed stone that I couldn't get the compactor close enough to so that's not a surprise.

That's pretty much what I was thinking and what 2 of the 3 contractors told me, why remove the cement when it has essentially settled and compacted the land below it over 40 years. The cement itself is still in good shape, hardly any cracks at all. My only concern is if there has been a lot of erosion over the years due to the gaps between the cement and the pool wall and that there may be some empty pockets under the cement? The only contractor that was concerned with erosion and empty pockets was the one who would lift the existing cement, but I guess he is also trying to sell his services. I think it would be overkill to get the polymer fill under the cement just to fill in any gaps and then put the pavers on top. This was another option the cement lift contractor offered me but it would still cost 10$/sq ft to get that done.

Originally Posted by tcrote5516

On a side note, the skimmer looks like a repour and is not stressed by the deck sinking anymore. Most likely it was damaged when the deck did some heavy movement early on and someone sectioned it out and repoured. When you do pavers you'll need to pop the top part off and install an extension ring or two to have it flush with the new deck as I did with mine.

Yes that's correct. I use the same pool repair guy as the previous owner so he gave me the run-down on all the work over the years. The skimmer is fine since the cement around it was broken and repoured in 2009. He also changed the liner in 2009 and said the pool was in very good shape.

I'll check out your build thread, thanks for the info!!

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Malibu07

My neighbor had the exact same problem. He opted to have it jacked up. It looks great now.

Good to know! At first I liked this option but if I did it I would still need to break the cement around the skimmer that was re-done in 2009 and re-do it again to have it level with the rest of the newly raised cement. There was also a patch on a cement slab near one of the returns and the contractor didn't think this part would get lifted up. So I would also have to get that fixed too. For what it would cost me (and I would just end up with my old cement instead of new pavers or new cement) I don't think I will go the cement lifting route...